Late spring brews

As the weather has gotten warmer, my beer choices have gotten heller.

It's been a long time since I've had Schell's. It seems like there are only a couple varieties on shelves here in Madison these days, unfortunately. But I'll take what I can get.

The folks at Weihenstephaner must decoct this stuff 3 or 4 times because it is Maillard Himmel. Simply delicious! I can only image how much more tasty it must be fresh from the Keller. 

Na zdrowie to Prost!

I finally made my first visit to Prost!, the German beer hall & restaurant which is the heir apparent to Essen Haus, if/when the venerable German restaurant/bar is demolished to make way for apartments or condos or a hotel or whatever is slated to take its place.

Housed in a former church, Prost! is a lovely space with stained glass everywhere.

A friend and I had lunch and I dined with a Früh Kölsch. The bier was delicious, full of bready/crackery goodness. And the food was very tasty. There were enough pickled vegetables on my plate to fell a horse and I think that I ate the equivalent of 2 cucumbers.

With such a lovely space, it's a shame there are TVs. On the other hand, the bier selection is pretty good. However, there was no gose, no altbier, no Dortmunder Export, no schwarzbier, and, most importantly, no rauchbier. But what's not to like about having drei Helles's on tap? Perhaps they'll put a Maibock on tap once Easter has passed.

The wurst was really good and we were told that it was artisanally made by, if memory servers, a Chef Mike somebody-or-other in Chicago. And the senf was sehr gut too. A nice little kick.

Naptown's Finest: Special Kölsch by Bier Brewery

Earlier this month I made a trek to Indianapolis ostensibly to attend Gencon but I ended up doing various other things besides, which I'll write about later. While there, beer was drunk and, as always, I endeavored to locally source my brews.

This was rather easy as Sun King beer was everywhere. I get the impression that they are the Revolution of Indiana, the New Glarus of Naptown. Sun King has some deal with Gencon and the brewery gets to brew an official beer of the con. Earlier this year there was a poll asking gamers what style of beer they wanted to slake their thirsts after a hard day of rolling dice and rubbernecking at Sailor Moon cosplayers. While I voted for a Kölsch, an English mild made with honey proved victorious. It was christened Hive Mind.

I sampled it the first evening we were there at a place that I cannot recall. My friends and I were disappointed to see that our usual hangout, Claddagh, had been replaced by a more trendy joint. The new sleek, IKEA-like interior and steep drink prices were tailored to keep the unbathed, black t-shirted hordes out. And so we found respite elsewhere. Hive Mind was just OK. A bit too sweet with the honey flavor too forward for my taste. Instead of being a pleasant accent, the treacly, golden goodness was like an ochre jelly oozing over my palate so that I couldn't taste the fine malty-leathery flavor that I expected from the mild. And so I switched to Sunlight, Sun King's cream ale which was everywhere. Its ubiquity in downtown bars and restaurants led me to believe that this is their Spotted Cow. I ended up drinking the stuff at multiple venues including the hotel bar at the Omni which, I noticed, auctioned off the Hive Mind tap handle after the kegs were emptied. It was hot down south and Sunlight was easy going yet flavorful with a nice grain taste and without Citra-Mosaic-Simcoe overload. (Or is that Mosaic-Simcoe-Citra?)

One day I decided to go in search of local brews that weren't from Sun King. The Crown Liquors outpost at Ohio and Delaware was close to our hotel so I paid it a visit. A young gentleman behind the counter noticed a bewildered look on my face and asked me if I needed help. I did and he directed me to the local beer section of the coolers.

But, not only did he do that, he hung around unbidden and offered some handy advice. He gave me the 411 on the various breweries I'd never even so much as heard of and he seemed to be honest in his assessments. A couple of breweries were deemed sub-par and he noted a couple more that were hit or miss. One of the breweries he lauded as consistently brewing good beer was the rather unexcitingly named Bier Brewery. My local beer guide asked what kind of brews I like and, upon hearing that I was not an IPA kind of guy, he promptly pulled a 6-pack of Bier Brewery's Special Kölsch out of the cooler. Like a master addressing his novice, he looked me straight in the eyes and said, "You'll like this."

Bier Brewery appears to be a brewpub while the can notes that my sixer was brewed and bottled by South Broad Ripple Brewing which, as far as I can tell, is a subsidiary of Bier Brewery as they have the same address at a website I found. Perhaps this arrangement is just a quirk in Indiana law that requires brewpubs and packaging breweries to be separate legal entities or some such thing.

While I was the liquor store, I noted that Founder's Oktoberfest and Schlafly's Pumpkin Ale were both on display. Uff da!

I never cracked a can while in Indy but was eager to try my Special Kölsch out when I got home. For the occasion, I dug out a Stange from the basement.

The label features the Cologne Cathedral and what I think is the Hohenzollern Bridge so I was expecting a fairly true to style brew here. It certainly looked the part with its lovely light yellow hue. The bier was clear as day and I managed to pour a nice, big head of firm foam in my Stange. And this stuff had staying power - enough for me to actually get a decent photo of it. Some bubbles were seen inside. It had a wonderful Kölschy aroma too, just like the ones from Cologne that survive a trip across the ocean. My nose caught some delicate cracker, a slight fruity scent like -berry, and a bit of grass from the hops.

My first sip revealed a moderate fizziness permeating a nice, light bodied beer. The malt was biscuity and complemented very well by the grassy-herbal tasting hops. This combo made for a tasty earthy-grainy gestalt that was accented by a bit of -berry fruitiness. But there wasn't much sweetness to be had.

On the swallow, the grainy and fruity flavors slowly faded and gave way to a more herbal tasting hoppiness. At 14.4 I.B.U.'s, the finish had only a dash of dryness and a modicum of bitterness.

This is a very fine bier. Very fine indeed. The label evoked Cologne and the liquid inside was what I would expect from a genuine Kölsch. All of the flavors were deployed with a light touch, nothing heavy or overwhelming. The malt taste was clean and not sweet while the hops added balance and some flavor but they didn't try to run roughshod over my palate. And those yeasty fruit flavors complemented all of the other ones very well, even if they were a bit stronger than I am used to. Not cloying at all. I do wish the bier had been slightly hoppier to add a bit more of its herbal counterpoint, but this is a minor quibble.

Junk food pairing: The pork tenderloin sandwich is the unofficial sandwich of Hoosierland so pair your Special Kölsch with a bag of pork rinds. Go with the plain variety to ensure that the delicate flavors of the bier aren't overtaken.

Sometimes I've believed as many as two fictional things before Beer:30: Kid Kölsch by New Glarus Brewing Co.

A few years back when New Glarus released its initial batch of Kid Kölsch, my first thought was, “Oh good! Glad to see New Glarus brewing a Kölsch again. It’s been a while.” They do that – brew a fantastic beer and then leave you hanging the next year when it’s nowhere to be found. For example, Coffee Stout and Cran-bic are simply great beers that we deserve to have every year but they seem to come and go at the whim of a capricious brewmaster. Much to my chagrin, I soon discovered that their previous Kölsch was like Sinbad’s Shazaam – it didn’t exist and was merely a false memory.

How did that happen?

Perhaps recalling (correctly, by the way) that they had brewed an altbier (Don’t believe me? Here’s a link for proof.), I just mistakenly assumed that Dan Carey and Co. had also brewed its cousin from downriver, the Kölsch. I mean, if you’re going to brew one Obergäriges (top-fermented) Lagerbier, you might as well brew both, right? On the other hand, my mental lapse may have been a sign of encroaching senescence.

Disturbingly, it was déjà vu all over again a couple weeks or so ago when I was writing a review of Bierzeit, the Kölsch from Lakefront, another brewery that’s been known to lager a beer or 2 or 20 and was brewing the style for the first time. I noted that -

SPOILERS!


 

 

…we here in Madison are blessed with some fine Kölsches including the one by New Glarus. I went to make a link to my review of Kid Kölsch but found that I had never actually written one. (Ooh! I guess this makes for déjà vu x2.) It would appear that I am making a good argument for senescence here. Since I didn’t have a review of Kid Kölsch and the odds are good that it would come in handy in the future, I resolved to write it. And so here we are.

I adore the Kölsch and it’s a regular in my refrigerator as the temperatures start climbing in the late spring. The style is a native of Cologne where it is served .2 litres at a time in a tall, thin cylindrical glass called a Stange. At the breweries there, the servers, who are called köbes, dress up in blue jackets and carry a bunch of Stangen on a circular tray called a Kranz. Some of them are apparently quite surly and will likely appeal to patrons of Ed Debevic’s. Nonetheless, they keep fresh, cold Kölsch in front of you. I once asked my wife to don a naughty köbes outfit and give me some Kölsch service. She too was rather testy and all I got out of it was a black eye.

Kid Kölsch is a lovely light yellow and slightly hazy. I think that the Kölsch is supposed to be clear as per the Kölsch Treaty of 1986 (which ended the Great Kölsch Wars) but I am certainly not going to complain as Kid Kölsch was double frickin’ decocted for extra malty goodness!

!!!!

I managed to get a lot of foam in my Stange which was white and firm. There were many bubbles in the glass and they seemed smaller than normal. The aroma was just delightful with a bit of straw joined by some cracker as well as a touch of pear and a hint of something floral.

Those smaller bubbles seem to have generated a milder fizz while the decoction regimen made for a very tasty cracker flavor with definite bready overtones that carried some wheatiness with them. Despite all of the luscious grain flavors, it was quite light-bodied. Lurking underneath was a spicy hop flavor and a bit o’fruitiness that was pear-like but also had a berry thing going as well.

The malty flavors and that dash of fruit faded quickly on the finish to be replaced by a spicy-earthy hoppiness that, along with the fizz, gave a medium level of bitterness and dryness. There was also an astringency here but it gave a gentle bite and left no marks.

When it comes to Kölsches from Cologne, I am a Reissdorf kind of guy. They just do the crackery malt flavor with a touch of fruitiness and just enough hops thing perfectly and their beer is the touchstone of the style for me. Kid Kölsch does the same thing but is much fresher. It looks like New Glarus introduced it in 2019 and I believe they’ve brewed it every year since, but don’t quote me on that. Going to buy that first six pack is my newest spring ritual. When I see Kid Kölsch on the shelf, I know that warmer weather, road construction, and mosquitoes are on their way.

Junk food pairing: Kölsches go well with cheese puffs and you can’t go wrong pairing your Kid Kölsch with Cheetos White Cheddar Puffs.

Widersehen Pils, Hallo Kölsch: Bierzeit aus Lakefront Brewery

Have you ever felt like you were going to die? On a recent bike ride, I had that feeling more than once. Being quite out of shape, there were a few times when I was pedaling up that hill and I thought my heart was going to say, "Eff you, fatboy! I am done!" and just stop working, leaving me to clutch my chest like the gladiator in Life of Brian - "I think I'm about to have a cardiac arrest." Since I was cruising around the countryside, it was quiet and I kind of felt like the guy in that Edgar Allan Poe story as I could hear every beat of my ticker. It's always disconcerting when I override my brain's natural tendency to block out those internal sounds of my bodily functions, let me tell ya. I will take a pass on that sensory deprivation tank, thank you.

Thankfully for you, I survived my near-death experience and lived to write another blog post. When I got home, I was hot'n'sweaty and found myself craving 2 things: 1) grapefruit and 2) a nice cold Kölsch. #1 was satisfied by a trip to the supermarket where I scoured the fruit section and found just the right piece of citrus which I eagerly brought home. After gently peeling the skin from the grapefruit, I bit into its luscious, red flesh and found it tantalizingly tangy. Tiny rivulets of cool juice trickled down my chin as if I was a stunt double in 9½ Weeks. That was one of the best tasting grapefruits I've ever eaten.

Hankering #2 was satisfied with a bottle of the subject of this post: Bierzeit from Lakefront Brewery.

Bierzeit is a Kölsch-style beer and it seems that Lakefront has only brewed this style once before - a limited edition back in 2015 as part of their My Turn series. I find that rather odd as Lakefront is afraid neither of German bier styles nor of lagering. Looking at their website, Bierzeit is listed in the Year-Round beers category, which is nice. I also see that they no longer brew a pilsner year-round.

First they came for the Klisch Pilsner, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was more of an Eastside Dark kind of guy.

Then they came for the Lakefront Pils, and I did not speak out—
     Because I was more of an Eastside Dark kind of guy.

That's a shame as they made some fine pilsners. From what I hear, Riverwest Stein is popular so I think that's safe. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Eastside Dark go away. I mean, if the beer named after the brewery's founders got discontinued, what chance does a humble dunkel stand? That's got to be something of an ego blow when the brewery you got up and running with your blood, sweat, and tears stops making the beer with your name on it.

I generally have a high opinion of Lakefront. While I may not drink some of the styles they brew, I feel that they do a very good job (or better) on the ones I do. But there are some great Kölsches out there. New Glarus' Kid Kölsch is a fantastic bier as is Dovetail's version of the style. So how does Bierzeit stack up?

My photograph makes Bierzeit appear a more golden color than it really is so don't be fooled. It's lighter - more yellow than gold. Light gold, maybe? A creamy, white head lasted a long time. It had the slightest of haze to it and there were many bubbles inside rushing upwards. The best word for Bierzeit's aroma is "freshness". It smelled like cracker, grass, and a faint bit of floral and I could smell it even when my Stange was several inches from my nose.

The first sip had a very healthy dose of fizz. I tasted mainly malt which was largely a light, cracker flavor but there was also a slight doughy sweetness too. It was crisp with just a hint of fruitiness. Those malty flavors faded away after I swallowed leaving some gentle grassy/herbal hop flavors to do their thing. They provided a little bitterness and a mild dryness.

Bierzeit did, as Gaff said in Blade Runner, a man's job, sir, of satisfying my Kölsch desires. It was light and crisp (and 4.5% A.B.V.) - perfect for a post-ride cooling off. I wish it had a little less of that doughy flavor and a smidgen more of that fruitiness to it but I nitpick here because I love the style. This is an excellent brew and deserves to be in your Kölsch rotation along with New Glarus and Dovetail's versions. Now that Lakefront has abandoned the pils, I am hoping that Bierzeit sticks around.

Junk food pairing: For a semi-authentic Kölsch experience, get a bag of gouda flavored potato chips and sprinkle liberally with dried chives.

Now Where's My Kranz?: Kölsch-Style Ale by Dovetail Brewery

When it's a nice day and it's spring and there's Kölsch to be drunk and your passport hasn't been used yet, it gets frustrating when you realize that you're not in Köln. There is no surly Köbes keeping that Stange in front of you filled with the city's famous brew as you chow down on some Kölsche Kaviar and admire the old-looking buildings of Gereon Rath's hometown that were, in fact, built only sometime after World War II. Frustration becomes resignation eventually.

Having had a smattering of blonde ales lately, moving onto a Kölsch seems like a natural progression. These styles look the same and it's not uncommon to find a blonde ale labeled "Kölsch" – so what's the difference? The way I rate it, a genuine Kölsch from Köln will be lagered so sweetness and fruity flavors will be present but deemphasized. Plus the hops should be more grass/straw-like.

While there isn't a gothic cathedral or Köbes in sight, we do have good Kölsch-style beers here. In fact, one of the best, New Glarus' Kid Kölsch, returns this summer, if it's not already on store shelves. Sadly, some of the best domestic Kölsches I've ever had are either no longer brewed (Sierra Nevada, Big Bay) or not available here in Madison (Schlafly). Now we have a new Kölsch-style ale available here from Chicago's Dovetail Brewery.

I tend to rate Kölsches against the Platonic ideal of the style, Reissdorf. I have friends who prefer Gaffel und Früh and, while I certainly don't dislike them, they just don't reach Reissdorfian heights. Mainly I think this is because they don't get that nice, crisp cracker flavor. When I've had them, I taste something that's more doughy, almost mushy/paste-like. On the one hand, I am willing to give a lot of slack to imported beers because who knows when that stuff was brewed and what the conditions on the trek across the ocean were like. But Reissdorf makes that trip too.

Reissdorf not only has a wonderful grain taste in absolute terms, but also in relative terms. It comes in just the right amount to allow the fruitiness a little room and the hops too. Everything in its place. I've read that around 100 years ago the Kölsch was quite a bit hoppier than it is today. While I am happy to try a retro Kölsch, I will continue to adore the more modern iteration of the beer which, I suspect, dates back to the time when those old-looking buildings in Köln were being built.

My pour of the Dovetail left my Stange with a big head of stiff, white foam. It sat atop the straw colored beer, which was a tad hazy, and looked wonderful. In the sun, it looked like the perfect vernal glass of suds. And it smelled wonderful too – very Reissdorfian. There was a strong smell of cracker along with grass and bit of berry-like fruitiness.

Unlike most of the beers I've tasted lately, it wasn't the fizz that I judged first. Instead, it was the tasty crackery grain flavor followed by some low-level sweetness that was honeyed on one sip and then more like berry on the next. It was all kept in check by a medium fizziness. On the swallow, I thought I tasted wheat as a mild, peppery bitterness kicked in which conspired with the fizz for a fairly dry finish.

Dovetail has concocted a Kölsch-style brew that is very similar to Reissdorf but with a slightly heavier malt taste and more fruitiness. It's like it took the Reissdorf template and embiggened the bier just a tad. I admit that there's a part of me saying that it just doesn't match up with my beloved Kölsch from Cologne but, really, this is a wonderful take on the style. It has got very tasty grain and fruity flavors doing that Kölsch-y pas de deux on my tongue, plus it's light, crisp and the brisk, dry finish was perfect. A most worthy addition to my Kölsch arsenal.

Junk food pairing: I like to pair my Kölsch with cheese so, after you pour yourself a Dovetail, bust open a bag of Cheetos Puffs. The lighter Puffs with their delicate crispness goes perfectly with the more restrained flavors of the Kölsch.

2020: A Year in Beer

As 2021 approaches, there are many Best of 2020 lists going around. A fellow Cheesehead who started a beer blog just this week made sure his first post was a list of his favorites from this year. I too thought I'd take a look back at some of the best suds I've had in 2020.

I drank many beers that I really enjoyed over the past 12 months. Certain brews, such as Tippy Toboggan, a Roggenbier by Vintage Brewing here in Madison, would make my list every year. It's just that tasty. I have sung its praises here previously so, while I drank my fill this year, I excluded it from the list. Looking back at the beers I drank from 2020, I see many that I've had in years past. They're good so I return to them. I even had a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for the first time in ages.

New Glarus' Coffee Stout, one of, if not the, first of its kind remained highly tasty in 2020 as did Rocky's Revenge from Tyranena which is one of the first barrel aged beers I ever had and it remains a favorite. As a lover of smoked beers, I have to say Karben4's smoked porter, Night Call, is really great even if it is merely lightly smoked. I could go on in this vein for a while. But I won't.

Before I get to the list, let me add a few random observations:

1) The only Madison-area brewery that went out of business this year (due to Covid) was Rockhound. (To my knowledge, anyway.) I'd been there only a few times but I enjoyed their hefeweizen and thought they had good food. R.I.P.

2) Sprecher's Maibock and Oktoberfest stand out from those of other Wisconsin breweries because they have wonderful bready flavors instead of letting malt sweetness run amok. The new owners don't appear to have changed things too much out there in Glendale but they have brewed an NEIPA and it looks like they're continuing Sprecher's move towards being a beverage company as opposed to a brewery.

3) Breweries in the northern half of Wisconsin get too little coverage down here in the southern part of the state. While it's to be expected that they don't dominate beer chatter in the 608, it nevertheless sometimes feels like there are no indigenous breweries outside of the Milwaukee and Madison areas. To be fair, some joints up nort have limited or no distribution here. And I'm ambivalent about this. On one hand, I'd love to have some more boreal beers available here on Madison shelves. On the other, it's nice to be presented with something new and different when I travel north.

Now, on with the show.

I have both kinds of beer on my list: pale and dark. We will start with the former.

On a summer trek to Chicago I picked up Helles by Dovetail and Metropolitan, Windy City breweries both.

Helles is a fairly rare style these days for Wisconsin breweries, as far as I can tell. Capital stopped brewing their Bavarian Lager in 2010, or thereabouts and its replacement, Lake House, just isn't the same to my taste as it lacks the toasty malt flavor. Wisconsin Brewing Company had one called Ol' Reliable that went the way of the dodo. I see one from various breweries every so often but they generally taste like the amateur zymurgological experiments of a novice cicerone.

Two of our neighbors to the south each have a Helles that just oozes melanoidin-y goodness. These are the best Helleses I've had from American breweries and, if I didn't have to travel to buy them, they'd (mostly) obviate the need for those Paulaner Lager purchases I make. But, pursuant to #3 above, they do make for a nice treat when I go to Chicagoland.

Now onto the dark side.

I cannot honestly claim to know much about Czech beer styles. And beyond a Bohemian or Czech-style pilsner, the Czech Republic, sadly, doesn't seem to inspire American brewers the way Carmen Miranda's hats do. Reading Evan Rail's descriptions of Czech brews makes me thirsty but those beers have been very much a mystery to me. This year, however, I got to sample three different breweries' takes on Tmavé Pivo, or Czech dark lager.

Now, whether any of these tasted like something I'll find in Bohemia when I visit, I cannot say. Leos Frank of Lazy Monk Brewing up in Eau Claire is Czech by birth so I have some reason to believe his brew has a measure of authenticity. And, truthfully, Next Door and Working Draft's piwos were very similar to Frank's with highly roasted malt flavors that ranged from coffee and chocolate to slightly burnt/fuliginous.

As a dark beer lover, this near cornucopia of piwos of a style new to me was sheer delight.

These brews stood out, not only for their sheer deliciousness, but also because they are rare or rarish styles. I certainly consumed other beers that were very delicious, but I have chosen to observe some brevity for this post.

And so that's my list proper. However, I do want to mention a couple runners up from smaller, lesser known breweries.

Valkyrie's Swan Maiden is a Kölsch-style beer and was really good. Located up in Dallas, brewmaster Randy Lee still brews on converted dairy equipment, to the best of my knowledge. When I visited the brewery there were no computers nor automated grain hoppers. Just Lee dumping sacks of grain into vats before grabbing a paddle to stir. Homebrewing writ large? Perhaps. But Swan Maiden was a wonderful beer with a delicate malt flavor and a light fruitiness from the yeast. Indeed, it was better than most examples of this style from American brewers who have much larger and more heavily automated facilities. Valkyrie's beers are a great bonus when I am in the northwest part of the state.

And then we have Saccharifice, a German Pilsner from Parched Eagle here in Madison. Brewmaster Jim Goronson has a small brewhouse in the basement of the building he rents that must surely qualify as nano. Lacking the space for extended lagering, Goronson still managed to produce a really good pils with a light malt touch accented by the fruity flavors of Hüll Melon and Mandarina Bavaria hops. The fruit taste is not overpowering and there's still some bitterness to be had.

(My podcasting partner and I interviewed Jim and you can find that episode here.)

There are some of my highlights of 2020. 2021 begins soon and we shall see what it brings. I predict lots of alfresco quaffing welcome in the spring.